Is the Stray a monoculture?

It really isn't so I should probably stop complaining that it is. Apart from grass, there's plantain and bugle and clover and buttercups and daisies, and guess what .....

I'm fairly sure it's Coprinus comatus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprinus_comatus), lawyer's wig or shaggy ink cap. But fungi are notoriously difficult to identify - it takes an expert to be sure, and even then not always.

A few days ago I saw field mushrooms, I think, but left them alone, partly because they were pretty ratty, partly because of the amount of dog dirt, mainly because I'm just not confident enough to rely on my identifications. It's a case of don't do this at home ...

On a different subject, we now know when the Fair's coming to town:

 But does anyone know where the free parking is going to be?

Beautiful Harrogate sky

The Stray does skies really well - at almost any time of day the sky is spectacular. This was yesterday evening after the rain. The thing that looks  a bit like the moon is, I suspect, a raindrop on the lens ....

It's not rocket science

There are ways of stopping people parking on the verges, without emblazoning (is there such a word?) the Stray with hideous notices. The Borough Council has done a very effective job of using blocks of stone to keep parked cars off the area of sand which is protecting the protective matting which is protecting the now non-existent grass so that it doesn't get damaged .... er ....

This area of the Stray is looking REALLY overused. Anyone know what the plan is for when the fair arrives?

I was starting to think ...

... that the protective barrier put up, I think, by Yorkshire Water had been there for so long that it risked breaching the regulations banning enclosures on the Stray. However, this morning it looks as though the work has finished and they have re-seeded the area that was dug up. Hooray, and well done whoever was responsible for this.

Not so good, though - it's becoming increasingly apparent that quite a few of the chestnut trees on the Stray are infected with a nasty virus. It probably won't kill them, but it certainly makes them unhappy, and my guess is that trees that are already stressed are most vulnerable.

In some parts of the Stray the trees are flourishing, in others they clearly struggle. The much-admired cherry tree avenue is starting to look a bit desperate. I have a feeling there's a need for a thorough review of the whole environment to work out how best to preserve it for the future.

And poor sad leaves ...

Here are some close-ups of the leaves from the tree in yesterday's post. They definitely don't look well, though I'm equally definitely no expert. However, it does look very like Guindardia leaf blotch,  Any arboriculturists out there who can bring a bit of authority to the discussion?

Poor sad tree

One of the chestnut trees on the Stray is looking very unhappy. I don't think it's the chestnut leaf miner moth causing the problem - I'll try to get a close-up of the leaves so that whatever it is shows up more clearly. Maybe it's just old age (not alone there) or too dry or too wet or too lonely. Or maybe it's one of the other chestnut pathogens. Most of the chestnuts on the Stray are looking fine, so fingers crossed that they continue to be OK.

I wonder if this is what it's suffering from:
(information from http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/infd-6kyc5f:)

"Guignardia leaf blotch

Caused by the fungus Guignardia aesculi, the disease produces reddish or dull brown, irregular blotches that are often concentrated at the tips and margins of infected leaflets. The blotches are often outlined by a conspicuous yellow band (see the photo). Occasional browning without the yellow margin may be caused by ‘xylem limited’ bacteria."

Let's hope not.

What a load of rubbish!

Back from my holidays, and it's brilliant to see the Stray looking beautiful in yesterday's evening light. I particularly like the little faint glimmer of a green traffic light in the middle of the picture ...

But I like this a lot less:

This is a slightly blurry picture of litter scattered some twenty-five yards from a virtually empty rubbish bin. WHY???? I really don't get it.